Doing The Things You DON’T Want To Do

Like most ASDs I am incredibly focussed on the things I am interested in.

But the mundane (and important) day to day things like paying bills, time sheets, household admin, insuring the car, writing reports, shopping etc, I have less than no interest in and I live a life of procrastination, waiting until it is critical before giving it any attention. This literally ensures panic and anxiety rule much of my interaction with the world.

This is where the "Super focussed autistic" label is misleading, because we are super disinterested in anything we are not interested in. Which is the majority of life.

In an attempt to get on top of these critical chores I write to-do list after to-do list - I enjoy writing out clear, prioritised lists - but it’s impossible to prioritise boring task 1 from boring task 2, or 300, so I still don’t actually do any of these mind numbing chores, and I just end up with lots of really long lists that frustrate me because they are:

a) endless and

b) no one crap task is any more important than any other crap task!

Does anyone have any success in organising or motivating yourself to do the crap you don’t want to do and staying on top of the endless train of uninteresting $h!t that is critical to conducting the everyday business of life?

Any advice is welcome…just don’t reply in the form of a to-do list…unless it’s well prioritised.

Parents
  • Hey, Seanado

    It depends what the things are. I put letters on my staircase (the closer they are to the bottom step, the sooner I need to deal with them. If they are urgent, they go on the bottom step. I try not to put more than  one on a step at at a time, so I only need to deal with one a day). Other things go on my staircase too as well as letters, small jobs, or things I need to buy or replace, like lightbulbs. Nothing too big as I get stressed with too much mess. 

    I do the same with other jobs too. I move things around to create a visible hierarchy system.

    For bigger jobs, like hoovering and steam mopping, washing, gardening. I have a utility cupboard, and I put the machines in a row in order of importance. That way I know which one I need to use next. I do the same with the washing basket. I bring it down the stairs and put it in front of the washer. 

    The good thing about this way of doing things is that there's no pressure to do the jobs, it's just a reminder to do them and in what order.

    If I can't actually see the thing I need to do, or some element of it, then it doesn't get done. I literally have to bring it into view as a reminder.

    Of course, I often rely on the tried and trusted technique of LMPTR. Have you tried that one? (L)ast (M)inute (P)anic T(hen) R(ush)!

    Hope this is some help x

Reply
  • Hey, Seanado

    It depends what the things are. I put letters on my staircase (the closer they are to the bottom step, the sooner I need to deal with them. If they are urgent, they go on the bottom step. I try not to put more than  one on a step at at a time, so I only need to deal with one a day). Other things go on my staircase too as well as letters, small jobs, or things I need to buy or replace, like lightbulbs. Nothing too big as I get stressed with too much mess. 

    I do the same with other jobs too. I move things around to create a visible hierarchy system.

    For bigger jobs, like hoovering and steam mopping, washing, gardening. I have a utility cupboard, and I put the machines in a row in order of importance. That way I know which one I need to use next. I do the same with the washing basket. I bring it down the stairs and put it in front of the washer. 

    The good thing about this way of doing things is that there's no pressure to do the jobs, it's just a reminder to do them and in what order.

    If I can't actually see the thing I need to do, or some element of it, then it doesn't get done. I literally have to bring it into view as a reminder.

    Of course, I often rely on the tried and trusted technique of LMPTR. Have you tried that one? (L)ast (M)inute (P)anic T(hen) R(ush)!

    Hope this is some help x

Children